use-bootstrap-msbuild

Guide for testing bug reproductions against locally-built MSBuild. Use this when you have a repro project and want to verify a fix works before submitting a PR.

Quality

81%

Does it follow best practices?

Run evals on this skill

Adds up to 20 points to the overall score

View guide

Securityby

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Quality

Content

86%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

The body is a lean, highly actionable guide with concrete cross-platform commands, a quick-reference table, and useful troubleshooting feedback loops. It is well-structured for its scope, with only minor conciseness and a small workflow-checkpoint gap holding it back from full marks.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	Mostly efficient with copy-paste commands and a tight quick-reference table, but the opening line rephrases the description and a few lines ('All of the usual command line arguments should work') could be trimmed.	4 / 5
Actionability	Fully executable, copy-paste-ready commands for Windows and Unix across both .NET Core and .NET Framework paths, plus a quick-reference table covering the common cases.	5 / 5
Workflow Clarity	Step 1 (build) and Step 2 (run) are clearly sequenced with troubleshooting feedback loops (timestamp check, build-server shutdown, interpretation of results), but the main flow lacks an explicit 'verify the bootstrap built successfully' checkpoint.	4 / 5
Progressive Disclosure	A compact single-file skill with well-organized sections and one-level-deep 'See Also' links to external wiki docs; no bundle files are needed for this scope.	5 / 5
	Total	18 / 20 Passed

Description

77%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

The description clearly answers both what and when with concrete, niche-specific trigger phrases and low conflict risk. Its main weakness is specificity, capped by limited action coverage and a second-person 'you have' construction that violates the third-person-voice guideline.

Suggestions

Rephrase 'Use this when you have a repro project' to third person (e.g., 'Use when verifying a fix against a repro project') to satisfy the voice guideline and recover the specificity point.

List a few more concrete actions (e.g., 'build the bootstrap, run the repro, compare against installed MSBuild') to lift specificity from 2 toward 4-5.

Add a natural synonym or file cue (e.g., '.csproj repro', 'binlog') to broaden trigger-term coverage.

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Names the domain and 1-2 concrete actions ('testing bug reproductions against locally-built MSBuild', 'verify a fix works'), but coverage is not comprehensive; reduced by 1 for second-person voice ('Use this when you have a repro project').	2 / 5
Completeness	Explicitly states both what ('Guide for testing bug reproductions against locally-built MSBuild') and when ('Use this when you have a repro project and want to verify a fix works before submitting a PR') with concrete trigger phrases.	5 / 5
Trigger Term Quality	Includes natural developer phrases ('bug reproductions', 'repro project', 'verify a fix', 'submitting a PR') that users would actually say, though it lacks synonyms and file extensions.	4 / 5
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	A clear niche (locally-built/bootstrap MSBuild) with distinct triggers ('repro project', 'verify a fix', 'submitting a PR') and minimal conflict risk with other skills.	5 / 5
	Total	16 / 20 Passed

Validation

100%

Warnings & errors only

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository: dotnet/msbuild
Path: .github/skills/use-bootstrap-msbuild/SKILL.md
Commit: b75ae9e

Reviewed: 1 day ago

Table of Contents

Discovery Implementation Validation

Is this your skill?

If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.